12: New Covenant & Clean Conscience (Hebrews 8-9:14)

Jesus is Better (a Study of the Book of Hebrews) • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago • Presented 3 years ago

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The Old Covenant priests and sacrifices were shadows previewing & pointing to the ONE Who would offer Himself to establish a New Covenant and give us a clean conscience. Let’s bask in the beauty of what that means for us!

Notes

Transcript

I’m a Dad…and I tell jokes…so here’s a…Dad Joke.

I gave all my dead batteries away today, free of charge.

If you’re struggling spiritually, I hope today’s teaching will RECHARGE your batteries…and I think it can, and here’s why: I think we have missed out on how Holy God is…how unholy we are…and the beauty of what God has done to give us His holiness.

As we have already seen in this study, while the imperfect, temporary priests and the untold numbers of unblemished animals were God’s plan and His command, they were all shadows that previewed & pointed to the ONE who would sacrifice Himself & be Our Heavenly High Priest.

So today we get to bask in the beauty of what that means for us and what Jesus offers us - a New Covenant and a Clean Conscience!

PRAY

Hebrews 8:1–2 Now the main point of what is being said is this: We have this kind of high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that was set up by the Lord and not man.

When Jesus ascended to heaven (Lk 24:51, Acts 1:9), He was enthroned with the Father - that’s what sitting at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens means. As mentioned in a previous teaching, this comes from Psalm 110:1 saying:

Psalm 110:1 (LEB) A declaration of Yahweh to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Using an enemy as a footstool is ancient imagery for defeating an enemy, as the conquering king would place his foot on the neck of the defeated leaders as a footstool, just as Joshua had his leaders do to the kings who fought against the Hebrew people (Joshua 10:24). This is what will happen to the enemies of Jesus, forced to BOW before Him; defeated by the One who once offered them peace by shedding His own blood.

To sit at God the Father’s right hand is a metaphor for honor, authority, and power. So the Son shares the honor, authority, and power of the Father without limitation.

Also, as we have mentioned previously, that Jesus sat down is significant because the priests who worked in the Temple never sat (Heb 10:11) because their job was never complete. But since Jesus has paid the price once and for all, He could cry out from the cross, “It is finished” (Jn 19:30) and then SIT DOWN in the heavenly throne room.

Further, while Jesus never served as high priest in the earthly temple, He is the heavenly high priest of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle, not a man-made temple on earth, but set up by the Lord in heaven.

And now we have the privilege of watching how the author of Hebrews highlights the contrast between the earthly substitutes & shadows and the REAL THING they were all pointing to.

Earthly Substitutes & Shadows

Hebrews 8:3–5 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; therefore, it was necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now if he were on earth, he wouldn’t be a priest, since there are those offering the gifts prescribed by the law. These serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was warned when he was about to complete the tabernacle. For God said, Be careful that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.

Shadows aren’t forever, shadows eventually fade away. So too, the earthly high priests, animal sacrifices, and the tabernacle (the mobile temple in Moses’ day), and the later temple were shadows that fade away in the Presence of our Heavenly High Priest with His perfect sacrifice and completed work by which He sat down in “the true tabernacle” - the throne room of God. Jesus is the Better High Priest with Better Promises based on His Better Sacrifice.

Hebrews 8:6–7 But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been established on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second one.

And then the author quotes the Old Covenant passage (Jer 31:31-34) we covered last week, the one that speaks of the New Covenant that was coming, and now IS FULFILLED in Jesus, saying:

Hebrews 8:8–12 But finding fault with his people, he says: See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not like the covenant that I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. I showed no concern for them, says the Lord, because they did not continue in my covenant.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And each person will not teach his fellow citizen, and each his brother or sister, saying, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them. For I will forgive their wrongdoing, and I will never again remember their sins.

What a great hope! The new covenant is a better covenant - fulfilling the promises that the Old Covenant pointed to.

Hebrews 8:13 By saying a new covenant, he has declared that the first is obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old is about to pass away.

When I asked Tonya to marry me, I gave her an engagement ring…amazing quality for a cracker-jack box! That ring wasn’t the fulfillment of our relationship, it was a promise of what was to come. I had made a covenant with her - a promise to marry her - but on our wedding day I fulfilled the Old Covenant of engagement - to marry her one day, and offered a New Covenant….a better covenant - a covenant of marriage. She had more than just an engagement ring - she had a WEDDING BAND…she had more than just promises to wed her one day - she had the WEDDING on THAT DAY…and she had ME…for the rest of my life.

That the new covenant made the old covenant obsolete does’t mean the old covenant was bad, but that it was never meant to be COMPLETE…it pointed to a Better Covenant, a better promise that God was bringing through Jesus.

[Jerusalem Destroyed] And in AD 70, likely after this letter was penned, the temple was destroyed by the Romans - the earthly sanctuary, the ONE PLACE where sacrifices were to be offered on behalf of the people for forgiveness of sins…was GONE…and still is…2000 years later. The Old Covenant sacrifices & practices that had to do with the Temple were obsolete and did pass away.

But while the Old Covenant was still in effect, before the Temple was built, the people had a mobile temple called a tabernacle, that we are about to spend some time on. So...here’s a quick synopsis of the Tabernacle:

TABERNACLE VIDEO (used on Proclaim)

The author of Hebrews writes of this saying:

Hebrews 9:1–2 Now the first covenant also had regulations for ministry and an earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was set up, and in the first room, which is called the holy place, were the lampstand, the table, and the presentation loaves.

The author doesn’t give much detail about these furnishings, as most Hebrews would be familiar with them, but since we AREN’T, let’s do a deep dive to consider their significance.

The lamp stand was constantly lit (Ex 25:31-40, Lev 24:1-4). This 7 branded candlestick made of pure gold, with 3 branches on one side and 3 to the other side, and 1 branch in the middle. This could represent the tree of life, but...

it also points to One who is perfect - represented by the number 7, the One who is “light of the world” (Jn 1:4-5, 8:12).

The table was made of acacia wood and was overlaid with pure gold and the 12 presentation loaves on it were to be refreshed every Sabbath for the priests to eat from while serving (Ex. 25:23-30, Lev 24:5-9).

Jesus later called Himself “the bread of life” and “the bread that came down from heaven” (Jn 6:35-42).

The author’s main point isn’t to focus on the articles in the tabernacle, but to spotlight the SEPARATION between Holy God and unholy man as represented by the 2 rooms.

The first room, the Holy Place was a place that only priests could go. In fact, anyone else who attempted to come into the tabernacle was to be killed (Num 18:7).

The further reality of the separation between Holy God and unholy man is symbolized by the second curtain that separated everyone from the Most Holy Place…in which only 1 person could go - the high priest - and only 1 day out of the year.

Hebrews 9:3-4a Behind the second curtain was a tent called the most holy place. It had the gold altar of incense…

While the gold altar of incense (Ex 30:1-10) was actually just in front of the curtain that opened to the Most Holy Place, and the high priest was commanded to bring the burning incense into the Most Holy Place to cover the mercy seat of the Ark (Lev 16:13) on the Day of Atonement. This incense represents the prayers of the priests ascending to God, but even more…

This incense represents the prayers offered by Jesus - our Heavenly High Priest - as the mediator between God and man.

Putting this all together, MacArthur says it well:

From His heavenly place now, Jesus lights our path (pictured by the golden lampstand), He feeds us (pictured by the table of sacred bread), and He intercedes for us (pictured by the altar of incense).

Hebrews 9:3-4 Behind the second curtain was a tent called the most holy place. It had the gold altar of incense…and the ark of the covenant, covered with gold on all sides, in which was a gold jar containing the manna, Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.

Hebrews 9:5 The cherubim of glory were above the ark overshadowing the mercy seat. It is not possible to speak about these things in detail right now.

The incense brought in by the high priest (Lev 16:13) would form a cloud above the mercy seat (Lev 16:2) where God would appear. The cherubim in the Most Holy Place are made of gold - bowing before the “mercy seat” - the invisible throne of God.

Hebrews 9:6–7 With these things prepared like this, the priests enter the first room repeatedly, performing their ministry. But the high priest alone enters the second room, and he does that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

Listen to a synopsis of what this “Day of Atonement” would have looked like for the high priest, as communicated by Kent Hughes:

During New Testament times, the high priest prepared for The Day of Atonement by leaving home and staying day and night in the Temple for 7 days (Yoma 1.1). Throughout that week he walked through what he would do on that day, so he would make no mistakes (Yoma 2.2). He made sure not to come close to anything that would make him ceremonially unclean.

Then on the morning of the Day of Atonement, the high priest offered a burnt offering (Numbers 29:8–11). Following this, he ritually bathed his entire body and then, instead of putting on his traditional gorgeous robes,

he put on with white undergarments, a sacred white linen tunic, a white sash and white turban (Leviticus 16:4)— symbolizing purity (Yoma 3.4-6).

Next he placed his hands on the head of a bull, selected as a sacrifice for his own sins and those of his family, [and prayed asking God to forgive him/them.]

Then, leaving the bull for a few moments, he turned to two goats nearby and cast lots (like throwing dice) to decide which one was designated to be sacrificed for the sins of the people and the other selected as the scapegoat (Leviticus 16:8, 10, 26; Yoma 4.1). A piece of crimson wool was then tied to the horns of the scapegoat, and a thread was put around the goat to be slaughtered (Yoma 4.2). Then the goats were left standing together.

The high priest then returned to the bull and sacrificed it on behalf of himself and his family (Yoma 4.3).

Next, he filled a censer with burning coals from the altar of burnt offerings and entered the Most Holy Place, pouring 2 handfuls of incense on the coals so that a cloud of incense covered the mercy-seat (Leviticus 16:12, 13; Yoma 5.1).

Then he exited the Most Holy Place to bring back some of the bull’s blood, which he sprinkled on the mercy-seat and then 7 times on the ground before the cover (Leviticus 16:14; Yoma 5.3).

After that, he went back outside and sacrificed the goat and brought its blood to perform the same ritual for the people in the Most Holy Place.

With his work completed in the Most Holy Place, he returned outside and mixed the blood of the bull and the goat, put it on the horns of the altar, and sprinkled the altar seven times to consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites (Leviticus 16:18, 19; Yoma 5.4-6).

The priest then laid both hands on the head of the scapegoat that was still alive and confessed “all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head” (Leviticus 16:21). The goat was then led away into the desert while the people cheered—“Bear [our sins] and be gone!” (Yoma 6.4).

The high priest then took off his white garments, bathed again, and changed back to his gorgeous robes, and completed the burnt offerings including the bull and goat that had been sacrificed for himself, his family, and all the people of Israel. The remains of the animals were carried outside the camp and burned (Leviticus 16:23–28).

Finally, [so says the Mishnah - oral tradition of Jewish law] the high priest pronounced the divine name (YHWH), and all the congregation prostrated themselves and cried, “Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever” (Yoma 6.2).

Then the people celebrated with feasting & dancing! How awesome must that day have been!

Yet, as ornate and significant as all that was…that was just a SHADOW of what was coming in Jesus!

Hebrews 9:8-10 The Holy Spirit was making it clear that the way into the most holy place had not yet been disclosed while the first tabernacle was still standing. This is a symbol for the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper’s conscience. They are physical regulations and only deal with food, drink, and various washings imposed until the time of the new order.

And now the new order the author mentions has appeared!

Hebrews 9:11–12 But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation), He entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.

Hebrews 9:13-14 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God?

The payment has been MADE for our SIN! Do we REALLY BELIEVE that?!?

Is your conscience clean?

Every person in here has a conscience, a conscience that at one point - condemns us. And every person here (and watching) tries to find ways to quiet that conscience that condemns us.

Many try to quiet their conscience by doing BAD THINGS, somehow thinking that drinking, drugs, sex, arrogance, and mistreatment of others will bring satisfaction and MUTE their GUILT…but it doesn’t - not for long.

Some try quiet their conscience by doing GOOD WORKS - serving others, being kind, giving money, even going to church - that somehow, in our mind - cancels out the bad we have done. That’s what one Jewish lady I have mentioned before thought too.

Conversation with a Jewish lady - I asked, “Since there is no more temple nor sacrifices at the Temple, how are your sins atoned for?” She responded by telling me that happened through prayer and fasting. When I asked where she found that in the TaNaK (Hebrew Scriptures), she rightly said that wasn’t in the Scriptures but in the rabbinical traditions that developed when the temple was destroyed. I reminded her that NO WHERE in God’s Scriptures does prayer & fasting atone for sin. The Old Covenant writings conclude with the command that sin must be atoned for by the death of substitute sacrifices. So, I told her, “You have no sacrifice for sins” as has been the case for every Jewish person since the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70.

So too, if you and I trust in our good works or even prayer and fasting…this CANNOT cover up our sin before our Holy God!

It is the blood of Jesus the Messiah - the unblemished One - the One who OFFERED His holy life as a sacrifice for our unholy lives, that forgives our sin and cleanses our conscience.

Jesus died to make FULL PAYMENT for our SIN - for our sexual thoughts & actions outside of marriage - our gossip, slander, and lies - our cheating and stealing - our drunkenness and abuse of other drugs - our mistreatment of others made in God’s image - our selfishness and prideful arrogance - our nasty language, thoughts, and actions.

Where does this find YOU today?

This should leave followers of Jesus with an AWESOME APPRECIATION for what He has done for us! Do you APPRECIATE what Jesus has done for you? What evidence proves that you are grateful for God’s grace?

If you KNOW and APPRECIATE what Jesus has done for YOU, PRAY and ASK God to use you THIS WEEK - to share the GOOD NEWS with OTHERS!

OR maybe you claim to be a follower of Jesus, but you’re caught in a sin you can’t get out of. Ask a believer who LOVES you for some help! If you could get out by yourself…then why hasn’t that happened yet?

Maybe you’re just doubting whether you’re really a Christian or not - talk with someone who is - and get some help.

I hope this leaves those aren’t yet followers of Jesus - people who have been wondering WHY they feel guilty, WHY they can’t quiet their conscience - NOW REALIZING that guilt and shame is actually a GOOD THING - helping you see that SOMETHING needs to change…and that SOMETHING is a SOMEONE - you need to stop trusting in YOU, you need to stop living for YOU…and bow before the One who MADE YOU.

So you have questions and need some answers? Maybe you have a need and want some help.

CALL OUR STAFF

CALL OUR DEACONS

TALK WITH ANOTHER BELIEVER.

Thank & Seek Our Perfect, Permanent High Priest who gave His life for you!

PRAY

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